Sunday, January 30, 2011

01/29/2011
WASHINGTON — Egypt’s political unrest leaves Washington torn between freedom-seeking protesters and a government that has been a vital ally — a dilemma with deep implications for its troubled Middle East policy.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been a fulcrum of US regional strategy for decades, a guarantor of his nation’s peace with US ally Israel and a central player in successive and frustrated American peace initiatives.

But with his 30-year rule seemingly under threat, amid talk of a possible “Arab spring” of revolt against authoritarian rulers, US policymakers must pick their way through a political minefield.

“They are in a difficult position because there is all sorts of momentum in Egypt — and in Washington people think that the dominoes just are going to fall,” said Gregory Gause of the University of Vermont..... MORE